I’ve hit the big time. Somebody has finally esteemed Yankee Fog highly enough to steal a post from here and pass it off as his own.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the single most-popular entry at Yankee Fog: my exclusive sneak preview of the Snakes on a Plane trailer, which has received more hits than all the other entries on the site combined. Lately, its popularity has surged even higher, as people googling for the phrase Snakes on a Plane trailer have had the good fortune to end up at my site, instead of at some silly official site for the movie.
But recently, one visitor came here from a search for the phrase “the snake is wearing a false moustache.” Wondering how many other web pages could contain that phrase, I googled it myself–and that’s how I stumbled on my first plagiarist, who has reproduced my trailer almost word-for-word.
Now, it’s easy enough to quote something and forget to mention the source. So, I figured I’d give this obvious fan of my writing the benefit of the doubt. I made a comment on his blog, saying that I was sure he hadn’t intended to plagiarize, but the way he had framed the quote from me made it appear to be his writing. I mentioned that I’d appreciate it if he’d give proper credit.
Sure enough, within twenty-four hours, he had taken action–by deleting my comment.
A little poking around in this guy’s blog indicates that I’m not the first author he’s stolen from. For example, another entry was copied verbatim (and without credit) from this original entry at another writer’s site.
Annoyed as I am, it’s hard to get too upset. As far as I can tell, the blog belongs to a 16-year-old kid named (NAME DELETED). While that’s certainly old enough to understand why plagiarism is wrong, it’s too young to have to permanently suffer for stupid mistakes, and if (NAME DELETED) were to give proper credit to me and anybody else he’s stolen from, and to apologize, I’d certainly remove his name from this entry. That way, people Googling for (NAME DELETED) wouldn’t come across this entry.
Trust me, (NAME DELETED)–getting in the habit of plagiarism is the worst thing a young aspiring writer can do. Break the habit now, and you’ll be glad of it later in life.
UPDATED TO ADD: (NAME DELETED) has now given me proper credit in his blog, so, as promised, I’ve removed his name and the link to his site. He’s also responded here; if you’d like to see his side of the story, be sure to read the comments of this entry.
Interesting that his last name should be (NAME DELETED) or am I saying it wrong? But it’s true … imitation is both the highest and most annoying form of flattery … but when you think of all that’s been written about Snakes On A Plane on the Internet, it’s cool that yours was the one chosen.
Dude, I didn’t plagarisze you. I never claimed to have written it — and if you want explicit credit, I’ll edit the entry when I get access to it — but I’ll ask you politely to take my name and my blog link down from your site immediatley.
(NAME DELETED), thank you for your polite request, and for responding to my concerns. Unfortunately, your response is unsatisfactory.
As I see it, there are two possibilities here.
Possibility 1 is that, as you claim, you didn’t plagiarize me. If this is the case, then I do you no harm by mentioning your name and linking to your site, since any independent observer can simply click through to your site, and confirm that my accusation is false.
Possibility 2 is that I am correct, and that copying my words, and then pasting them into the middle of your text with no credit and no indication that you did not write them, is pretty much a textbook case of plagiarism.
Either way, I am leaving up your name and the link. When you give me proper credit, and apologize for giving the impression that my words were yours, I will gladly remove your name and the link from this entry.
In the meantime, I will do you the courtesy of modifying the entry, mentioning that you have defended yourself in the comments, so that people can see your point of view.
I checked out the guy’s site and he now has added your credit and a link back to your site for this material. He does call you a douche in the process though.
I did call him a douche, ’cause this is kinda douchey (Douchy?). I gave you the proper credit, and so even if you keep my name up on your site, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t libel me as a plagirist, as I never took credit for your work.
Thank you.
As promised, I’ve removed your name and the links to your site from this entry. I’ve also removed your name and e-mail from the comments. Let me know if I’ve missed anything.
But, look, (NAME DELETED), I honestly think you need to familiarize yourself with the meaning of plagiarism. If you are interested in being a writer–as I gather you are– you are going to have to get used to the notion that, when you put words on your website (or in your essays, or film scripts) and do not explicitly attribute them to others, you are claiming authorship of them. If those words are not in fact your own, you will, eventually, get found out, and you will get in trouble for it. And the words that actually are your own will be thrown into doubt. That’s the case here–the entries at your blog are all well written, but I have no way of knowing for which of them you actually deserve credit.
I’ve read articles that say that teenagers these days don’t have any notion that cutting-and-pasting stuff from the Internet into their own work is wrong. I generally chalk those articles up to the same sort of hysteria that infects every generation of grownups about the kids of their era, but, hey, maybe it’s true. Maybe, (NAME DELETED), none of the teenagers you know will think you did anything wrong. But if you genuinely want to put words in order for a living, then you need to set higher standards for yourself.
You are clearly a bright and ambitious guy-the fact that you’re making a film at your age is genuinely impressive. Do not let yourself grow used to the crutch of borrowing other people’s work.
Hey! He ripped off Josh Friedman in the exact same blog entry that he ripped off you.
He ripped off Josh’s snakes-on-motherf*cking-plane post.
I thought the first part was familiar, so I googled part of it and sure enough!
Nice detective work. I hadn’t noticed that.
“Tonight, on a very special Yankee Fog, (NAME DELETED) learns a very special lesson about life, friendship, and intellectual property…”
Wow, Jacob, you have indeed hit the big time! You’re so famous and timeless, people (well, one kid in cyberspace) assume that your words are instantly recognizable as yours, even without attribution, like Shakespeare or the Beatles!